Morgan le Fay Institute for Magic

Chapter 32 - Luscious Love

Ravenna couldn't remember how she'd gotten home from the village next to the Minister's mansion. At some point, Professor Fauns had arrived. She remembered vaguely that he'd made her tell him what exactly had happened. Why Willem was there. She spoke as if her tongue had taken control, explaining everything she knew. After that... She wasn't sure. Perhaps Ella had helped her up and walked her to a Portkey.

It didn't matter. At that moment, the only thing on her mind was Dan.

Was he still alive?

Had Professor Slughorn managed to save him?

Where had she taken him?

The tears had stopped eventually. Her head pounded and her throat had never felt so parched before. Still, her best friend was the only thing she could think of.

Until another name fell.

"I can't believe Willem's gone."

Ravenna's head shot up. It surprised her somewhat to find herself in an empty common room along with her two remaining classmates. A glance out the window told her it was still night.

"I tried to save him," she whispered.

Ella, sitting next to her on the sofa, immediately reached out and squeezed her hand. "We know."

"You shouldn't have gone," Ezra grumbled, sunken deep into the tattered old armchair. "You could've ended up just like him."

Ravenna didn't have the energy to retaliate, as she wondered if Dan had done just that. Instead, she nodded slowly.

"I still don't understand why he did that. How could he have thought joining the Death Eaters was the right thing to do?" Ella's voice had gone high. Only now did Ravenna notice the red rims around her eyes, and the tremor of her lip that she kept trying to hide. "I heard even his friends from last year had told him this was going too far, but he just wouldn't listen."

"He believed in the end result." Ravenna's voice cracked. "He believed in the change the Death Eaters promised him, and he thought the end justified the means."

"Yeah, well, too bad Lord Voldemort double-crossed him," said Ezra.

A shiver sent the hairs on her arms on end. "Please don't say that name," she muttered. "I don't ever want to hear it again."

A pensive silence followed, as the events of that night chugged through Ravenna's brain like a steam train lacking coal. A sudden thought hit her. "How's your dad? Did the aurors arrive on time?"

"He's fine. Still a bit shocked that a bunch of Morgan le Fay students were the ones to save him," said Ezra, grinning.

"He got away in time," Ella explained. "He managed to slip away before Lord V— I mean... Before he, you know who I mean, broke into the mansion. Dumbledore bought him enough time."

Ravenna's eyebrows raised. "Dumbledore was there?"

Ezra scoffed. "Apparently he's the one who saved the day, and kept you-know-who busy while my father escaped. Just you watch, it's gonna be him all over the Daily Prophet tomorrow. Saviour of the Minister for Magic, I can see it now."

"How come you never told us?" Ella asked. "Who your dad was, I mean."

With a scowl on his face, Ezra rolled his eyes. "I'd barely even call him my father. He never wanted me. I see him more often in the Daily Prophet than in real life; it's my mum who raised me. The only reason he bought that mansion in the first place, was so that me and mum have no reason to go outside. Most people don't even know he has a family. It's all to protect his career."